In light of an ongoing debate about whether a firearm in the home is more likely to protect or endanger a family of its owner and an owner herself, it is imperative that a firearm safe be securely mounted to a support surface to prevent its relocation by unauthorized persons. The art does supply a number of small portable safes, which may be mounted on support surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,021 (Ferraro) discloses a portable safe for containing guns including a receptacle which has a bottom providing a mounting plate. The mounting plate has a mounting hole for use in attaching the safe to other structures. A pressure sensitive pad is affixed to the mounting plate at the mounting hole and is positioned to be overlapped by the head of a mounting screw. When unauthorized forceful pulling is applied to the portable safe seeking to dislodge it from the other structures, a bolt head of a fastener mounted on the mounting plate applies a force to a pad that sets off an alarm system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,342 (Prinz) describes a security container specifically adapted to be mounted to the undersurface of a table, counter or other like structure, in a manner which will support and removably dispose the security container in a position where it is not readily visible. The security container is comprised of a mounting means removably securing the container to the bed frame and comprising two brackets each of which has an elongated mounting arm attached at a common, corresponding end of a head portion. Such attachment of the mounting arms occurs by a plurality of bolt and nut connectors passing through appropriately aligned apertures in the arms into a top of the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,466 (Cislo) teaches a safe for pistols having a fastener which allows it to be locked to any of standard bed frames supports. The safe is securely fastened to a bed frame by means of a detachable bracket which can be fixed to the frame only from the safe's interior by using conventional fasteners, such as bolts and screws.
All of the above discussed prior references teach conventional fastening means for attaching a mounting bracket to a housing that requires a screwdriver to dislodge the safe from the mounting bracket or a support surface.